Lance Evans

Here’s a little mix of news and notes that we missed over the past few days…

Jackson-Silva III Likely for UFC 91

Amidst lingering rumors that the two were set to rematch later this year, it seems that former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson will reportedly indeed take on longtime PRIDE middleweight title holder Wanderlei Silva at UFC 91 on November 15 according to MMA Junkie.

Sources within the Wolfslair camp, which Jackson recently joined after parting ways with trainer Juanito Ibarra, have said that Jackson has agreed to the fight and has already begun training. Attempts to contact Wolfslair co-owner Anthony McGann for confirmation by MMA on Tap were unsuccessful.

Jackson and Silva have fought on two separate occasions and Silva was victorious in both fighters. Silva stopped Jackson with strikes in the first round of their original meeting at PRIDE Final Conflict 2003 and then scored a second-round knockout of him at PRIDE 28 four years ago.

MMA on Tap has learned that Canadian light heavyweight prospects Lance Evans and Ryan Jimmo have been selected as contestants for the upcoming eighth season of “The Ultimate Fighter”, which will premiere on September 17th following the airing of UFC Fight Night 15 on Spike TV.

Evans is the younger brother of current UFC light heavyweight contender Rashad Evans, who was the second season’s heavyweight winner close to three years ago. Although Evans is actually American, he’s been perfecting his craft in Quebec-based TKO Championship Fighting as of late, where he has split his last two bouts. After being knocked out by Martin Desilets in September 2005, Evans took a two-year hiatus before returning. He most recently defeated Bob Landry via first-round stoppage at TKO 31 last December.

Interim UFC heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and former title holder Frank Mir will serve as coaches on the show. Evans and Jimmo now join Vinicius “Pezao” Magalhaes and Shane Nelson as additional cast members that have been confirmed.

Icho Larenas is interviewed after his win over Jacob Conliffe at TKO 20. Photo by Luigi Di Serio.

A scheduled bout between former TKO heavyweight champion Icho Larenas and Lance Evans at TKO 32: Ultimatum has apparently been scrapped.

The news comes from our buddy Scott at TKO Xtreme, who reports that Larenas has been forced to pull out of the bout due to undisclosed personal issues.

Larenas was coming off of a controversial stoppage win over popular Quebec hockey enforcer Steve Bosse at TKO 31: Young Guns last month. TKO president Stephane Patry claims that Larenas may have verbally submitted after receiving an unintentional poke in the eye during the second round. Larenas reportedly told referee Yves Lavigne that he was unable to see and Lavigne ended up giving Larenas a few minutes to recover.

Under the rules of the Quebec Athletic Commission, the fight should have been stopped once Larenas said he was experiencing vision problems. The bout was put under review by the Quebec Athletic Commission but we still haven’t been able to find out any information pertaining to an official decision.

Bosse will be taking on Scott Wright at the event.

A heavyweight bout between Ben Gallant and Jeff Lundberg will be added in order to round out the card. Both are relative newcomers to the sport of mixed martial arts. Gallant was victorious in his only career fight so far, submitting Adil Ayoubi at TKO 31 in December. Lundberg will be making his professional debut at the event.

Icho Larenas is interviewed after his win over Jacob Conliffe at TKO 20. Photo by Luigi Di Serio.

Well a rematch against Steve Bosse won’t be happening at TKO 32: Ultimatum for Icho Larenas but that doesn’t mean that the former TKO heavyweight champion won’t be facing a tough challenge.

TKO Championship Fighting has announced that Larenas will take on fellow heavyweight Lance Evans at the event.

Larenas is coming off of a controversial stoppage win over popular Quebec hockey enforcer Steve Bosse at TKO 31: Young Guns last month. TKO president Stephane Patry claims that Larenas may have verbally submitted after receiving an unintentional poke in the eye during the second round. Larenas reportedly told referee Yves Lavigne that he was unable to see and Lavigne ended up giving Larenas a few minutes to recover.

Under the rules of the Quebec Athletic Commission, the fight should have been stopped once Larenas said he was experiencing vision problems. The bout was put under review by the Quebec Athletic Commission but we haven’t been able to find out any information pertaining to an official decision.

Evans, the older brother of UFC light heavyweight contender Rashad Evans, was victorious in his last fight as well, stopping Bob Landry with strikes in the first round of their fight.

Just like Larenas-Bosse, the fight was a controversial one. While Evans worked an effective ground and pound assault on his opponent, Landry looked over to referee Yves Lavigne to let him know that he had been illegally struck in the back of the head. Since the bout was not stopped, Evans continued to pound away with strikes and forced Lavigne to stop the bout. Landry put up a minor protest after the fight but his argument went on deaf ears.